Tag: two of swords

[Tweet “What does it mean to really listen? To just shut up? #affirmation”]

Gaian Tarot

#affirmation Some days you just have to shut up. I’m a talker, you see. I tend to fill conversational spaces with anything. I’m learning to stop that. It’s a bad habit. How much have I missed in this world by doing that? I shudder to think!

Here is the Two of Air. A woman listens. It’s just that simple. She closes her eyes, tilts her head then listens. Those are cedar waxwings in the branches. I’ve seen them but couldn’t identify their song. I can identify some birdsong though easily.

Sometimes I think I would like to go back to the land as they say. Go off the grid. Get back to nature. Return to my roots.

Then I laugh. My roots? My roots are in Monroe, Louisiana in the middle of urban living. Well, it wasn’t a big city but it certainly wasn’t a small town either. We had four public high schools plus two private. Monroe is a great town but it’s not a “back to nature” situation.

It’s not available on the Kindle (darn it), but it comes highly recommended.

Today’s card is the Two of Air from the Gaian Tarot which is by Joanna Powell Colbert. I’m using that image for today’s affirmation.

Today I shut up. Today I get quiet. Today I listen. I listen for and I listen to. For the messages in silence, I listen. To the song of nature, I listen. By embracing the quiet, I grow and I learn. Loved and loving, I love each of you.

Today’s card reminds me that there are two sides (at least) to every tale. In fact, I would propose that there are three. Mine, yours and the truth.

Now I’m not saying that you or I are lying. I’m not saying that at all. It’s more that we each bring our own truth to story telling. What I see and interpret is influenced, guided, filtered by my life experiences. Same for you.

I might see someone cut someone else off in traffic and think, “What a jerk. They are rude and have no manners.” You might see them and think, “Wow, they must be late for work.”

And the truth might be something completely different.

We are all influenced by everything that occurs in our life. Even our choice to avoid things that might influence, influences.

What I am saying is that we can’t ever be completely “clean” of life.

And that, I think, is a very good thing. That way we can bring our life events in to help us grapple with things large and small.

Back to the traffic incident. I could also stop, breathe, and then say, “Maybe they were unaware of how close that other car was. Maybe they have a sick child and are rushing to the hospital.”

I don’t HAVE TO go to the bad every time.

I don’t HAVE TO assume the worst.

Did you know that’s a documented human response? The assuming the worst?

It’s part of the “fight or flight” animal instinct in all of us. Scientists say that is why we look for the worst in a situation. It’s in order to keep ourselves safe.

I am challenging myself today to not assume the worst. Particularly after Monday, when my “they’re all jerks” is in high reactive mode, I must fight to get back to a more joyful outlook.

It ain’t easy, kids. It ain’t easy.

But I have faith that I can do it. Just like I have faith that I can continue toward my goal of 10k steps a day. I’m now averaging over 5k a day so that 10k isn’t that far away.

Neither is my joy-seeker outlook. I know I left it here somewhere.

I’ll go rummage around in my mental pockets. You do the same.

Let’s meet back here tomorrow to check in on how we did today.

Two of Swords, Paulina Tarot, USGames

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

P.S. Please check out this Kickstarter. It’s a cool glass artist who is a personal friend of mine. I’ve backed many Kickstarter projects. The more airtime they get, the better they do. I’d appreciate if you would share this link as well. What goes around comes around,darlings!

Yes, I’m going to mention this a lot in the next 25 days.
No, I don’t make a dime from this.
Yes, I know it may seem obnoxious but I’m trusting y’all to understand I do this for my love of my friend and my pride in his work. MUAH!

Will you give your Higher Power just three minutes of attention? A mere 180 seconds?

Today’s card brings me such joy. The elfin grin. The open mouths. The patient parent. All combined in Poppy Palin’s fanciful world of the Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot. It’s a joy.

It reminds me that sometimes we need to watch for signs. They really are everywhere. No, I’m not talking about that stop sign I almost ran yesterday.

I mean the things we need to pay attention to–listen for. When we get quiet with ourselves, then we can hear and learn. Have you ever actually heard baby birds in nest? Ever followed the sound of a babbling brook to find a quiet stream of contemplation?

How often do you turn off everything and sit in quiet?

I’ll tell y’all a secret.

I am never in silence.

Never.

I normally have the TV off unless I’m looking at it. I don’t run the radio much at all.

But it’s never utterly quiet.

I have tinnitis. Constant crickets in my cranium. Right now all I have on in my home is a ceiling fan. And I hear a consistent whining that follows me everywhere.

So I have to really focus when I’m out listening for the small sounds. I actually can cover one ear and not hear certain pitches. This is useful sometimes…wicked grin. I can tune high pitched complainers out. snort

I compensate by sight. Which is really funny when you consider that I don’t have good eyesight either. But I see things. I recognize birds at a distance where others don’t. I’m constantly being told, “How did you see that?”

All I can answer is, “I paid attention.”

How will you pay attention today? What signs will you see? Write them down. See which ones keep coming up. What words or phrases or thoughts continually turn up in a pattern for you?

That’s the Universe (my word for the Higher Power) communicating with you.

Will you give your Higher Power just three minutes of attention? A mere 180 seconds?

By the way? Consider what happens when you turn 180 degrees.

Two of Air, Waking The Wild Spirit, Poppy Palin

Tomorrow is the last day to get the workbook+planner if you want to help me win the contest. Thanks if you can. If you already have the workbook+planner, pass this post along to someone you know who might like it. I appreciate it. Have you also checked out the list of free stuff you can snag?

Adult Arwen sighs and wrings her probably-need-more-moisturizer hands, asking, “Am I being selfish?”

The Two of Swords is a very internal argument of self. Both choices have merit. I think it is a good thing to be selfish as times. It can be nurturing to your inner child to know that someone is willing to be a little greedy and eat the last cookie.

Similarly, it can be empowering to the adult self to know you have saved the last cookie for someone you love to enjoy. There is a joy in not telling them that you put the cookie back (okay, maybe I sniffed it too.)

Of course, this doesn’t really provide an answer for “which do I choose” but that’s pretty much how I read Tarot. 😀 My clients always tell me I that I helped them but left them with new questions.

YAY ME!

I do warn folks that I tend to leave you with homework after a consultation. Tarot, for me, is introspective and self-challenging. I think you need to empower yourself by understanding WHY you make certain choices. Whether those choices are good or bad really isn’t the key ingredient. Do the choices empower you and encourage you and emphatically push you to be a better person.

That’s the real question. And, in a loop-de-loop way, it is also the answer to which choice to make, isn’t it.

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